ICEJ News In Brief: Monday 2/6/06

I am on an email list from the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem.
Here is the In Brief section.

Israel is constantly in a position that to respond to Islamofascist terrorism. The MSM does its best to demonize Israel's responses when the terrorists murder innocent civilians. If a terrorist escapes, they often slink back to a Palestinian neighborhood where Palestinian friends and relatives openly protect and endorse the violence of the terrorist. It is mind boggling that the MSM then reports an Israeli reprisal in a Palestinian neighborhood! Should Israel allow a murdering terrorist to escape? Should Israel allow a family trained homocidal suicide bomber to get away with murder? NO! If Islamofascists export terror they should be held accountable.
---------------------------------
Palestinian Kills Israeli Woman in a Taxi

A Palestinian man stabbed a 53-year-old Israeli woman to death and wounded four others on Sunday morning in an attack on taxi passengers in the central Israeli city of Petah Tikva. The 23 year-old assailant, Ahmad Kafina, was eventually forced to the ground by a 64-year-old Israeli man who ran onto the street from his workplace in an adjacent factory and disarmed him with a plank of wood. His victim, Kinneret Ben-Shalom, was married with three adult children. She died of stab wounds to the heart having been taken in critical condition to the nearby Beilinson hospital and is due to be buried on Monday afternoon. The other victims, all fellow passengers in the taxi minibus in which Kafina was traveling - were stabbed in the chest, back or stomach, trying in vain to save her.

Muslim Cartoon Protests Spark Beirut Rampage

The global wave of violent Islamic protests, set off by caricatures of the prophet Mohammad recently published in a Danish newspaper, spread over the weekend with the worst scene of unrest reported in Lebanon. Thousands of Muslims rampaged through downtown Beirut on Sunday, torching Denmark's consulate in the capital city and turning their anger against Lebanese security forces and the Christian community. The angry mob ended up stoning a Maronite church and clashing with Christian residents, sparking fears that the row could rekindle inter-religious conflict that tore the country apart from 1975-1990. In other cities worldwide, enraged Muslims protested with signs calling for the death of those who defame their prophet, as Danish prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen refused to apologize and defended freedom of speech and the press.

Bush: "You Bet We'll Defend Israel"

In an interview with the Reuters news agency last week, US President George W. Bush said he is concerned about threats made by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to "wipe Israel off the map" and will defend the Jewish State if he has to. "Israel is a solid ally of the United States. We will rise to Israel's defense, if need be," said Bush describing Ahmadinejad's "menacing talk" as disturbing. "It's not only disturbing to the United States, it's disturbing for other countries in the world, as well," he added. Asked whether that meant that America would rise to Israel's defense militarily, Bush said: "You bet, we'll defend Israel.

"Thousands Protest Amona 'Police Violence'

Tens of thousands of demonstrators thronged the streets of downtown Jerusalem Sunday night, calling for a commission of inquiry into the evacuation of the Amona settlement outpost last week. Castigating the Acting Prime Minister under the banner "Olmert is bad for the Jews," the rally was the largest of its kind since the Gaza Strip evacuation last summer. The crowd, predominantly religious teenagers, demanded an inquiry into what they described, "the brutal police violence" that left some 200 protestors injured, among them three serving Knesset Members. Some 50 police officers were also hurt in the clashes, one seriously.

PM Sharon in 'Vegetative State'

In the month since Prime Minister Ariel Sharon suffered a massive stroke, there has been no improvement in his condition and no sign that he is likely to regain consciousness, Ha'aretz reports. He is still breathing with the aid of a respirator, and, though Hadassah University Hospital still defines his condition as "serious but stable," other doctors not connected to his treatment have admitted that his condition can be described as a "vegetative" state. Nevertheless, they added, the possibility that Sharon will regain consciousness, though slim, cannot yet be completely ruled out.

Iraqi General: Saddam Flew WMDs to Syria

Former Iraqi general Georges Sada, who served as the second-in-command of Saddam Hussein's air force, says Iraq moved weapons of mass destruction into Syria before the US-led invasion by loading them into civilian aircraft in which the passenger seats were removed. The claim is made in the newly published book, Saddam's Secrets. Speaking to The New York Sun, Sada claimed that special Republican Guard units led by Saddam's cousin Ali Hussein al-Majid ("Chemical Ali") loaded "yellow barrels with skull and crossbones" onto 56 separate flights to Syria in the lead-up to the war. "Saddam realized, this time, the Americans are coming," Sada said. "They handed over the weapons of mass destruction to the Syrians." The book also says that on the eve of the first Gulf War, Saddam was planning to use his air force to launch a chemical weapons attack on Israel.